Qrow stared at the toaster in a sleep-addled haze, feeling more like a zombie than a human in the relative quietude of the kitchen. Several of the others had awoken as well in the time that Raven and Summer were away, and people milled about the beach house in various states of sleepiness, undress, and productivity. Qrow ignored them all, focusing only on the slices of bread trapped within the infernal machine before him. Not even the kitchen filling with an odd red glow behind him could break his exhausted focus. Finally, the toast popped up, and Qrow reached out a hand to pull it from the toaster.
Unfortunately for Qrow, Raven was faster. She plucked the slices out from under Qrow's fingers and passed one back to Summer as she walked between her brother and the counter without a word.
"Hey!"
"Too slow," Raven mocked, her hair and clothing matted with sweat and seawater. "Consider this a part of your training. Work on your speed and deflection drills, vacation or not."
"…I'm gonna throw a bucket of ice water over you while you're asleep tonight as part of your training," Qrow seethed as he pulled two more slices of bread from the bag upon the countertop. "If you weren't stressed out right now with all the bullshit going on, I'd kick your ass in front of Tai and everyone."
"I'd like to see you try," Raven said as she sat atop a stool and crossed her legs. The young huntress took a slow, purposeful bite of the stolen toast while maintaining eye contact with Qrow the entire time. "Perfect crispiness. Would be a shame if yours burned."
"Would be a shame if I set your bed on fire tonight."
"Children," Summer said mockingly. "Play nice."
"Bite me," Qrow returned.
A sigh of content came from the other side of the breakfast bar, where Willow sat holding a steaming cup of coffee in both hands. She took a long sip, a gentle smile playing on her lips as she continued to observe the spat between the siblings in silence.
"What's got you in such a good mood, Princess?" Raven asked. "Don't tell me you managed to actually get restful sleep amidst everything going on."
"No, it isn't that," Willow admitted as she set her cup down. "Just… fond of you all. It feels like being back at Beacon again right now, despite all of the new experiences that seem to be popping up over the past few days."
"And many more to come," Kali chimed in as she exited the downstairs bathroom, her hair tousled and her body covered only by a loose robe. "As often and adventurous as you feel up to, Wil."
Willow offered the faunus another smirk and lifted the cup to her lips once again to hide her blush. She could tell that Raven was scrutinizing her expression, and for once Willow didn't really care.
"Plenty of new experiences all around Vacuo," Ghira agreed as he rose from the couch, causing the cushions beneath him to pop back up. The massive faunus was shirtless, his pecs covered in a generous carpet of black, wiry hair. Several of the gathered teens, Qrow included, couldn't help but look at the display as he approached them. "For instance- do you all know about the upcoming festival?"
"I have a vague idea," Kali said as she eyed the man up and down. "But it's mostly a mainland thing, so I'm not entirely familiar…"
"Festival?" Summer asked. "That sounds like fun…"
"It is," Fox chimed in, invisible behind the back of the couch after flopping sideways to lay across the cushions Ghira had formerly occupied. "It's one of four huge festivals held throughout the year, one for each season. The whole of Vacuo more or less gets in on d-"
"Hold that thought," Ghira interrupted as he drew his scroll from his pants and looked over the screen. "Vel found something up in the guard tower..."
"And then my thunder was not just stolen, but murdered," Fox said dramatically. "I'm going back to sleep. You people suck and will now never know about the festival. If someone tries to tell you, I'll interrupt out of spite."
"We do want to hear about it, but I'd say our lives potentially being in danger takes priority," Willow reassured as she rose to meet Ghira. The heiress waved the rest of her friends over and leaned to one side to look at the screen. "What did she send over? Security camera footage?"
"Looks that way," Ghira acknowledged as he opened the conversation with Velvet. "She and Bartholomew have power restored up in the tower, and they're looking through the uncorrupted recordings right now. Raven, Qrow- does anything in this clip mean anything to you?"
Qrow moved in closer to the scroll to watch as the footage began to play. A view of the very kitchen they were standing in popped up on the screen, a blurry figure moving quickly through the unoccupied space. Whoever it was wore a black cloak that billowed behind themselves, obscuring any details upon their body. As the figure exited the frame, the footage cut to the next camera in sequence on the way to the staircase. They disappeared up the steps in a flash, darkening the camera lens with their cloak as they sped past.
"Pause it," Raven ordered as she narrowed her eyes. "Right as they're passing the camera, there might be some detail? Hopefully?"
"Hopefully," Qrow echoed as his popping toast went ignored behind the group. "I doubt it, though. Whoever it is, they're moving quick enough that seeing anything beyond the most basic detail seems unlikely."
"So far as I can tell, you people seem to thrive on the unlikely," Ghira said playfully as he used his finger to scrub back through the video. "I'm sure we can glean something from this, or at least another video within whatever Vel manages to find."
"There!" Summer called. "Right there, just after they blur the screen."
Ghira gave the much smaller woman a confused look as he tried to find what she had apparently seen.
"What am I looking for…?"
"A hand," Summer explained as she held her own out for the scroll. After Ghira passed it to her, she began gently scrubbing the footage until she reached a blurry, dark-skinned hand passing close to the lens. "This mean anything to either of you?"
Qrow's stomach dropped as he looked at the frozen image. The hand was slender and feminine with manicured nails. What really caught his eye, though, was the wide tattoo at the owner's wrist peeking out from the flailing cloak. Another similar tattoo was visible a few inches away up the arm.
"Shit," Qrow cursed. "It's her…"
"Could you possibly be any more needlessly vague?" Fox asked from his place on the couch.
"Aren't you supposed to be asleep?" Ghira asked with a roll of his eyes.
"I'm invested now!"
"It is her," Raven said, her voice carrying an uncharacteristic fear. "Those are her tattoos… and I don't know if any of us can stand up to her. No one can afford to be alone anymore. We'd need at least a pair to even stand a chance."
"One of the Watchers," Qrow elaborated before anyone could ask. "The only one that was a foreigner to the mountaintop…"
Raven knelt before her father, some distance away from the stone throne. Her forehead touched the floor of the temple, its surface cool and foreboding. Behind her, Qrow watched and waited for whatever his sibling's next test would be. Several other initiates knelt beside him, their eyes all upon the proceedings as they watched in silence.
"Stand," Arowana ordered in commanding tone. "Today, I have a different sort of trial for you. Choose from among your betters a partner. One you trust to stand alongside you in combat. Any of the trainees or other people in this room, myself included, are at your command. This challenge will be unlike any other you have faced. Think carefully about your selection."
Raven rose as ordered, one hand upon her katana and the other pressed to her side.
"I choose Qrow."
A hollow laugh came from the redhead standing behind the throne. Shrike looked incredibly amused by the declaration. Arowana did not.
"…after calling every potential combatant in the village here to witness your skills in combat, you choose him to be your support in a battle more dangerous than any you have faced thus far?" Arowana spat. "Am I now to regret investing so much time into your training?"
"I say we let this play out," an unfamiliar female voice called out from the darkness beyond the throne. "If Raven thinks she and her brother can stand up to me in combat, then let them make the attempt. I do not intend to hold back regardless."
"Very well," Arowana replied as he wrapped his fingers around the edges of the armrests on his throne and pushed himself up to stand. His slatted hat hid his facial expression from all onlookers as he tilted his head downward. Raven could feel the iciness of his stare regardless. "This is your last chance to choose a better partner."
"I choose Qrow," Raven confirmed, her voice full of determination.
From somewhere near the temple doors, a single young woman about Raven's age and height rose. Though making out any details in the faint candlelight was impossible, Arowana knew exactly who it was. Her movement toward the temple door was enough to confirm his suspicions, and he raised a hand. Two guards moved to block the door in response, and the lone figure bristled under their imposing gaze.
"None are permitted to leave, Kenna," Arowana warned. "Stay. Observe. Perhaps you may even see what you so desperately wish to."
"We will not fail," Raven insisted, not bothering to look back at her contemporary. Qrow moved to stand at her side, his own sword strapped to his back. "We've been training as per your orders."
"My orders were for you to train," Arowana reminded. "Your choice of training partners leaves much to be desired and will not serve you in this contest. Your brother- a familiar opponent- will do nothing to help you here."
Qrow wanted so badly to say something in protest, but he managed to keep his mouth shut for his own safety and that of his sister. The boy settled for drawing his weapon as he stared in Arowana's direction, hoping that his farther would get the message.
"All training has value," Raven said calmly. "From carrying water to simple reflex training to spotting, it all serves a purpose and may aid you in battle when least expected. You taught me such."
"I did," Arowana agreed as he approached the twins. "And yet, despite all of your efforts, there are gaps. In your service to our order, you will face many opponents whose methods of fighting stand in stark contrast to our own. Foreign weapons, dust uncommon to the mountaintop, entire different sets of skills- today, you will face an individual proficient- and forged in such unfamiliar circumstances. The last of my Watchers… and your new mentor, in the coming months."
The figure behind the throne approached, her feet totally silent against the floor of the temple. At first, she looked like a flowing shadow growing ever larger as she stepped into the light afforded by the giant window above and behind the throne. As the Watcher got closer, however, Raven and Qrow saw the frame of a woman standing only slightly taller than them enshrouded by a black cloak. When the woman reached up and pulled the hood down, the Branwen trainees saw something they hadn't even considered a possibility until that very moment.
Beneath the hood was a young face framed by short, choppy black hair. Her eyes burned with a fierce intensity, and their golden color complimented her cocoa-colored skin. Upon her forehead was an oval-shaped red marking, lending a bit of contrast to her otherwise unblemished features. Sprouting up from either side of her skull were a pair of orange cat ears with tufts of fluffy fur at their bases and black coloration around their edges and at their backs. As the woman lowered her arms to her sides, a pointed kunai on a chain slipped from within one of her sleeves and dangled threateningly mere inches above the floor.
"Make your first move," the faunus commanded. "And make it count."
Author's Note:
A quick aside, from a review- when Raven mentioned Qrow "flying alongside" the ship back to Beacon as a possibility for why someone wouldn't be leaving Vacuo with them, she meant "in another/smaller airship." It was intended to be an absurd and unlikely scenario as well as being a nod to canon. Whether the Branwens get their bird powers at all in this story is still up in the air.
Puns abound.
-RD
